Significantly, despite all of these new Gulf homes being part of official government spending, the keys are usually handed out to recipients in a more traditional setting — often by a ruling family member at some sort of cultural gathering. An incident heavily reported in the UAE’s state-backed media provides a particularly good example: in 2008 the ruler of Dubai was apparently touring the eastern province of Abu Dhabi in his role as UAE prime minister when he came across a 99 year old UAE national. Upon seeing cracks in the walls of the man’s house Muhammad asked him if he needed anything. Replying simply that he ‘wished for a long and happy life’, Muhammad reportedly replied ‘here we will build for you a very comfortable home’ before ordering the construction of a new villa for the man, and new accommodation for all the man’s grandsons. Three years later, in 2011, the local reaction to Muhammad’s earlier visit was understandably positive, with the elderly man explaining that ‘there are no words to describe the generosity and care [Muhammad] shows towards his people’ and with the district’s governor being similarly enamoured of the sheikh.[228]
As well as houses, the government-led granting of land for agricultural and commercial use to citizens has also proved popular — a straightforward resource for many Gulf monarchies to exploit given that in most cases the state or even the ruler himself owns all land unless specifically re-assigned. For citizens still dwelling in rural or hinterland areas, many have been provided with plots of land to develop into working farms. And in the wealthier Gulf monarchies, especially Abu Dhabi — where Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan had a particular keenness for ‘greening’ the emirate with trees and vegetation — many nationals have been provided with grants to purchase the necessary farming equipment and hire expatriate workers. Alternatively, and sometimes in addition to agricultural land, citizens have also been provided with plots of land in urban or industrial areas — either to be developed as retail outlets, workshops, or simply to build blocks of apartments to then rent out to expatriates. In some instances these plots of land have never been developed, serving simply as car parks or rest areas for lorries — but either way, they still generate rent for their respective landlords. As with the allocation of houses, the process is usually linked directly to key members of ruling families, despite being a part of official government spending. In Abu Dhabi, for example, the Khalifa Committee for Social Services and Commercial Buildings — named after and chaired by Zayed’s eldest son and Abu Dhabi’s current ruler, Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan — has dispensed over $10 billion in such property or grants since its inception in 1981.[229] Undoubtedly its popularity helped bolster Khalifa’s status as Abu Dhabi’s long-serving crown prince. Similarly in Qatar, all citizens are eligible to receive a plot of land ranging from 700 to 1,500 square metres, and an interet-free loan of about $250,000 towards its development. In order to claim these plots an application must be made directly to the ruler’s court — a process through which ‘the Emir’s patronage is reinforced both symbolically and practically’.[230]
In addition to social security benefits for unemployed citizens — which are very generous, about $3,000 per month in the wealthier Gulf monarchies,[231] and modest in all but the poorest Gulf monarchies of Bahrain and Oman — the welfare states that have been set up since the 1970s also include free healthcare and education. Again there is marked disparity between the quality of services offered in the wealthiest and poorest of the six states. In Qatar, for example, a new $2.4 billion hospital is being established in co-operation with Cornell University,[232] while the state-sponsored Qatar University is believed to operate with a massive endowment. In the UAE and Kuwait, similarly well-equipped hospitals have been in place for years, and students at state sector schools and universities can usually expect to receive free textbooks and in some circumstances even free laptop computers. In Saudi Arabia, a new public research university — the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology — was launched in 2009 at great expense. Comprising eleven faculties and already educating several hundred students, the university even offers stipends of several thousand dollars per year to its students. While Bahraini and Omani state sector hospitals, schools, and universities clearly lack the same level of attention and funding as in their neighbours, they are nevertheless far in advance of facilities available elsewhere in the developing world and are still easily among the best facilities available in the Arab world. Oman’s Sultan Qaboos University — established in 1986—enjoys a long and distinguished history in the region, as did Bahrain’s Salmaniya Hospital until recently.
Another important and highly visible feature of the Gulf monarchies’ allocative states has been the provision of public sector employment to most citizens, provided that they meet the most basic of qualifications. In the 1970s and 1980s almost all citizens who graduated from university were guaranteed jobs in the civil service, in ministries, or in other government departments. Moreover, citizens invariably enjoyed higher salaries than their expatriate counterparts, along with generous pensions, relaxed working hours, and good promotion prospects. Although something of a taboo subject in the region, it remains fair to say that citizens — especially at this period — were not required to work to international standards, with very few ever being fired from their positions. Put politely, with reference to Saudi Arabia ‘…royals have on many occasions used their fiscal authority to…employ veritable armies of idle bureaucratic clients’.[233]
In recent years it has become harder for the Gulf monarchies, especially those with declining resources or larger populations such as Bahrain, Oman, and Saudi Arabia, to keep creating and funding such generously paid and well-protected jobs. But in the smaller, wealthier monarchies it undoubtedly remains a central strategy, with public sector salary increases usually being tied to important political events. In the UAE, for example, within days of Khalifa bin Zayed’s succession as Abu Dhabi ruler and UAE president in late 2004 it was announced that all nationals working in the public sector would receive an immediate 25 per cent pay increase: understandably a popular decision.[234] Even more dramatically, in December 2009—just days after Dubai’s economic crash was reported in the international media and many UAE nationals were questioning their real estate investments in the emirate — the federal government announced that all citizens in the public sector would receive a 70 per cent pay rise, including all staff employed by the giant ministries for health and education. Emiratis interviewed by state-backed newspapers were understandably impressed, with one remarking ‘I would like to thank the Government for making it easier for Emiratis to live in the city, and for helping provide for their future plans,’ while another claimed ‘this increase will help me live more comfortably, buy property, and increase the limit on my spending’.[235] Significantly, as with most such salary hikes in the region, expatriates were excluded.
229
8. Heard-Bey, Frauke,
233
12. Hertog, Steffen,